In the book, Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills, by Harvey Manning 222 it is said,
"The method of crampon attachment is fully as important as crampon style. Best of all is a buckle-and-rivet harness of oiled, chrome-tanned leather, non-slip harness buckles with holes in the straps are recommended. The leather does not freeze and therefore permits rapid putting-on and taking-off during cold climbs with much alternation of ice and rock. Nylon cord is inexpensive, easily removed, and easily replaced in an emergency. Special care must be taken to lace tightly and to run the lace through each attachment prong or ring, and to tie off the ends with a double knot. Web strapping is the least desirable, since it readily picks up snow and frequently freezes at the buckles, sometimes making it necessary to cut straps to remove crampons. The slip-type buckles commonly used with strapping have been known to break." PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 390,594 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 411,512 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 442,003 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 559,923 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 577,475 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,506,662 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,837,730 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,995,975 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,047,593 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,313,099 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,441,998 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,657 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,229,389 PA1 U.S. Pat No. 3,685,173 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,579
Also a review of U.S. Patents indicates for a century inventors have provided traction members for installation on shoes and boots to help persons walk and climb on packed snow and ice. Straps in various configurations have been used to removably secure the traction members on the shoes or boots, such as shown in U.S. Patents.
Most, if not all of these previously listed patents concern traction members which mountaineers, who ascend the higher glacier covered mountains, would not rely on. More recent patents:
are more representative of crampons which mountaineers would consider using.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,173, Aldo Piazza discloses his crampon which is adjustably sized to a mountaineer's boot and thereafter secured directly to the sole and thereby to the boot, without the additional requirement of using securing belts. He eliminated the use of securing belts because he said when they become "wet due to the lowering of the temperature they become shorter and thus exert a notable pressure against the foot and prevent blood from circulating and sometimes aid frost-bite to occur". Much earlier in U.S. Pat. No. 1,008,773, Andrew E. Balser, provided an antislipping device for shoes also not requiring straps, but his antislipping device is probably not suitable for mountaineering boots. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,579 James Clark and Larry Gearheard disclose their adjustable crampons which in regard to the metal portions thereof are adjustably fitted differently than the so called conventional crampon illustrated herein, but the arrangement of the three pairs of strap posts are substantially the same. Conventionally a continuous strap is laced through the respective slots or rings of these strap posts, with the slots or rings being located alongside the mountaineer's boot near or at the sole locale of the boot.
In respect to this so called present use of conventional crampons with such posts terminating in slots or rings, the conventional strap lacing has a number of critical drawbacks. These relatively narrow straps when tightened often cut off blood circulation in a mountaineer's foot, which under low temperatures may also initiate frost-bite. These lacing straps, if made of leather, when wet and cold do shrink, also causing the tightening of the straps, and resulting in cutting off ones circulation. The posts with slots or the posts with rings often are very tightly located adjacent the sides of soles of the boot and/or the low sides of the boot when the boot is fitted with the crampon. Because of these low lacing slots or rings, the lacing must be done in these low elevation side locations under quite cumbersome conditions. Moreover the low slots and/or rings often become packed with snow further hindering the lacing procedures. In addition these lowly positioned slots or rings on the crampons, make it essentially impossible to lace the strap with gloves or mittens on. Yet if a climber or mountaineer removes his or her gloves to undertake such lacing under severe low temperature conditions, his or her hands could become frost-bitten and/or stick to the frozen metal crampon. Also the present so called conventional lacing arrangement includes a strap portion which extends, i.e. runs, lowly across the toe portion of the mountaineer's boot. Because of the often inefficiency of the entire lacing strap arrangement, this low strap portion across the toe portion often slips off the boot, causing the entire strap to loosen, and often causing the crampon itself to slip off the mountaineer's boot. Moreover, the conventional crampon and the lacing of the strap does not presently involve a set way or procedure of lacing. Beginning mountaineers are confused and troubled by the lacing steps. In addition the overall lacing is slowly undertaken both in putting on and taking off the crampons, whether or not the lacing is being undertaken by a beginner, i.e. novice, or an experienced mountaineer.